Our take

Editorials

When a sheriff is also coroner, bad cops can get protected, hands might get cut off corpses. It should be a relic of California’s provincial past that one person can serve as both sheriff and coroner of a county, as Steve Moore does in scandal-plagued San Joaquin County.

Columns

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Dan Walters, CalMatters: California’s long-running feud over the direction of its 6-million-student public school system has raged in many arenas, but never in a high-profile campaign for political office. That day, however, may come soon. Lt. Gov. Gavin Newsom and former Los Angeles Mayor Antonio Villaraigosa, two candidates for governor who run a close 1-2 in the polls, are exhibiting serious differences over education policy.

Lynn Silver: The overall breadth of California’s new emergency marijuana regulations and their lack of caution will fulfill big business’s wildest dreams. They will promote the unfettered growth of a new harmful California industry dominated by special interests and wealthy investors,not the health and well-being of our communities.

Erwin Chemerinsky: Article II, Section 4 of the Constitution provides for impeachment for “Treason, Bribery, or other high Crimes and Misdemeanors.” There is no definitive answer to what constitutes a “high crime or misdemeanor.” There is no Supreme Court case addressing it. But having researched this extensively, I believe the Constitution provides for impeachment if there is a serious abuse of power. A criminal violation could be a basis for finding a “high crime or misdemeanor,” but it is not required.

Take a number: 58

In the first – but perhaps not last – vote to start impeachment proceedings against President Donald Trump, 58 Democrats supported the move. The motion to kill the impeachment resolution passed on a 364-58 vote in the House on Wednesday. Those who wanted to proceed included 12 Democrats representing California, including Rep. Jerry McNerney of Stockton.

Among other things, the impeachment resolution offered by Rep. Al Green of Texas cited Trump’s response to the white supremacist rally in Charlottesville, Va., the president’s attacks on NFL players for kneeling during the national anthem and the anti-Muslim videos he recently retweeted.

House Democratic leaders, including Nancy Pelosi of San Francisco, opposed taking up the resolution now. They said that while Trump has made divisive statements “beyond the pale” and there are “legitimate questions” about his fitness for the presidency, an impeachment fight now would distract from attempts to stop the Republican tax cut bill and the investigation by special counsel Robert Mueller.

Impeachment talk is getting louder after the guilty plea Friday of Michael Flynn, Trump’s former national security adviser. Democrats, including Sen. Dianne Feinstein of California, say a case is building against Trump for obstruction of justice. –Foon Rhee,@foonrhee

Their take

Kansas City Star: Missouri Attorney General Josh Hawley has filed another lawsuit seeking to overturn California regulations regarding the sale of eggs. We wish we could endorse Hawley’s decision. The possibility of endless egg-related puns comes close to justifying the cost of the litigation. But not close enough. Hawley’s lawsuit, filed with the U.S. Supreme Court on behalf of Missouri and 12 other states, is flawed and unnecessary and should be dropped.

San Diego Union-Tribune: Tuesday the San Diego City Council made the right call giving the San Diego police officers union giant raises that will lift the department in morale and in salary scales when compared to other public safety agencies in cities across California that are competing for officers to protect their residents. That was the easy part, of course.

Los Angeles Times: Wildfires have been a part of the California ecosystem since long before modern settlement, let alone the exurban sprawl that brings housing and development into fire-prone areas. We tend to deal with the possibility of raging firestorms abstractly – local governments do a little planning, fire departments offer advice on clearing brush and other flammables from property, insurers sell policies to cover our losses if a fire actually burns our homes and businesses to the ground. But those steps don’t prepare us for the violent reality.

Chicago Tribune: Russia unveiled its uniforms for the upcoming Winter Olympics in South Korea last week, a gesture of “What, me worry?” confidence ahead of Tuesday’s momentous decision by the International Olympic Committee on whether to ban the nation from competition in Pyeongchang because of state-orchestrated doping. Well, the verdict’s in. Russia can start looking for the nearest Goodwill bin.

Mailbag

“President Donald Trump and the right wing have used this [Kate Steinle] case to play politics, but the left is doing something even worse. They’re arrogantly shrugging off this event because the murderer was one of their sacred cows: a poor, sad sack illegal alien.” – Kevin Rogenski, Vacaville

Jack’s Take

San Joaquin County’s Dr. Bennet Omalu is like Zelig, but with really bad luck.

Read Next

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